THREE YEARS LATER, COMPROMISE STILL ELUSIVE ON "HARDER" S&D PROPOSALS

Compromise remained far off as delegates considered eight proposals for specific changes to special and differential treatment (S&D) provisions in WTO agreements for the first time since 2003. "The middle ground is not visible," said Chair Ambassador Burhan Gafoor (Singapore) in his gloomy summary of the discussions at a 1 June meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development Special Session (CTD-SS).

The eight so-called 'Category III' proposals were separated from the other agreement-specific proposals in 2003 by then-chair of the General Council, Carlos Perez del Castillo, on the grounds that Members disagreed on them enough that "a certain degree of redrafting" would be necessary for progress to be made (see BRIDGES Weekly, 14 May 2003). The proposals Perez del Castillo deemed most likely to be agreed on were termed 'Category I,' while 'Category II' proposals were sent to the relevant Doha Round negotiating groups.

At the meeting, however, the sponsors of the proposals in question drew attention to the nature of Perez del Castillo's assessment in 2003. They stressed that Members had never approved the categorisation of the proposals by a consensus decision, and that Perez del Castillo's move was not supposed to preclude debate and eventual agreement on their texts.

The US, however, suggested that many of the proposals still needed extensive technical work -- particularly those seeking to make it mandatory for developed countries to provide technical assistance under the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). It recommended sending those proposals to the TBT and SPS Committees for modification, arguing that continued discussion on the current texts in the CTD-SS was pointless given that there seemed to be no possibility of moving forward.

Developing countries countered that in spite of the divergent views on the proposals, willingness from both sides of the debate to take up the needs expressed in them could provide a foundation for progress in crafting text.

The chair acknowledged that the meeting was just the first reading of the proposals, and said that he would encourage informal consultations between proponents of the revisions to WTO agreements and developed country delegates, in order to facilitate the development of revised language.

In addition to requirements to provide developing countries with technical assistance to support compliance with the TBT and SPS Agreements, the eight texts include proposals to: clarify how much longer the time period for compliance with new SPS measures should be for products of export interest to developing countries (under SPS Article 10.2); extend the exemptions set out in Article III of the Agreement on Trade-related Investment Measures to include "co-operation arrangements" which could include regional and preferential trade agreements, quantitative restrictions and "measures taken to improve living standards in developing country"; and make technical assistance mandatory for the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and allow for delayed implementation.

Rules of origin proposal tabled by LDCs

As part of their ongoing efforts to clarify the parameters of how Members will implement the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration's mandate to provide duty- and quota-free access to their exports, least developed countries (LDCs) tabled a detailed proposal on rules of origin. Paragraph 47 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration stipulates that Members will provide unrestricted market access to LDC products, including through "simplified and transparent rules of origin," but many of the details of the decision's implementation -- including when it will enter into force -- remain unresolved.

The new paper outlines the various requirements products currently have to fulfil in order to benefit from preferential agreements, suggesting that stringent rules of origin have left LDCs unable to take advantage of the opportunities provided by such accords. It goes on to propose text for a possible set of parameters for rules of origin to be linked to the mandate to provide duty- and quota-free access to LDC exports.

LDC delegates argued at the meeting that supplemental rules were necessary to ensure that their countries benefit from duty- and quota-free access to other markets, since existing WTO rules of origin do not cover one-way market access concessions.

The chair asked delegations to consult with each other on the rules of origin proposal. Sources indicate that in bilateral negotiations with the LDCs, the US has suggested that it would implement the duty- and quota-free decision along with the rest of the eventual Doha Round package (and not earlier as the LDCs had hoped), and that there would be no further negotiations on rules of origin.

ICTSD reporting.